1.
Parliament of Sri Lanka
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The Parliament of Sri Lanka is the 225-member unicameral legislature of Sri Lanka. The members of Parliament are elected by proportional representation for five-year terms, Parliament reserves the power to make all laws. It is modeled after the British Parliament, the Speaker or, in his absence the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees or the Deputy Chairman of Committees, presides over Parliament. The nations President has the power to summon, suspend, prorogue, or terminate a legislative session, of the 225 members,196 are elected from 22 electoral districts, which are multi-member. The remaining 29 MPs are elected from National Lists allocated to the parties in proportion to their share of the national vote, at first it was made up of only British officials but later included native citizens. At the beginning 16, and later 49, members were elected for the Legislative Council, but a limited number of people were qualified to vote. It was based on the Westminster model with a house, the Senate, whose members were appointed and a lower house of parliament. The Senate was abolished on 2 October 1971, on 22 May 1972 when the republican constitution was enacted, the House of Representatives was replaced with the National State Assembly which had 168 elected members. This itself was replaced by the Parliament of Sri Lanka when the constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka was enacted in 1977, in 1987, a grenade was lobbed into a conference room inside the Parliament complex where government MPs were meeting. Two people were killed and sixteen injured, but the target of the attack, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna claimed responsibility for the attack. The Presidential Secretariat announced that the Government will be functioning as joint government comprising two major parties, until 1972, the post was known as Clerk of Parliament. Currently, the Secretary Generals administration is divided into eight departments, the Staff Advisory Committee established under the Parliamentary Staff Act provides advice and guidance to the Parliamentary Secretariat with respect to matters concerning Parliamentary staff. The SAC consists of the Speaker, the Leader of the House, the Minister of Finance and the Leader of the Opposition. On January 29,1930 the British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Herbert Stanley, opened a building fronting the ocean at Galle Face, Colombo and it was subsequently used by the State Council, the House of Representatives, the National State Assembly and the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Today the Old Parliament Building is used by the Presidential Secretariat, in 1967 under Speaker Albert F. The island was where the palace of the King Vikramabahu IIIs powerful Minister Nissaka Alakesvara had been situated and it had belonged to E. W. Perera prior to being vested in the state. The building was designed by architect Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa and built with Sri Lankan funds, on April 29,1982, the new Parliamentary Complex was declared open by President J. R. Jayewardene. Committee On Public Enterprises Politics of Sri Lanka List of legislatures by country Official website

2.
Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka

3.
J. R. Jayewardene
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He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence. His younger brothers included Dr Hector Wilfred Jayewardene, QC and Dr Rolly Jayewardene and his uncles were the Colonel Theodore Jayewarden, Justice Valentine Jayewardene and the Press Baron D. R. Wijewardena. Raised by a English nanny, he received his education at Bishops College, Colombo and attended Royal College. At Royal College he played for the cricket team, debuting in the Royal-Thomian series in 1925. He would later serve as the Secretary of the Royal College Union, Jayewardene entered the University College, Colombo, in 1926 to read English, Latin, Logic and Economics, he attained a distinguished academic record and showed a keen interest in sports. In 1928 he transferred law by entering Colombo Law College and passed out as an advocate, starting his practice in the unofficial bar, Jayewardene converted from Christianity to Buddhism in his youth. Jayewardene did not practice law for long, in 1938 he became an activist in the Ceylon National Congress, which provided the organizational platform for Ceylons nationalist movement. He became its Joint Secretary in 1940 and he was elected to the colonial legislature, the State Council in 1943 by winning the Kelaniya by-election. During World War II, Jayewardene, along with other nationalists, contacted the Japanese, after joining the United National Party on its formation in 1946, he became Finance Minister in the island’s first Cabinet in 1947. He played a role in re-admitting Japan to the world community at the San Francisco Conference. Jayewardenes acute intelligence and subtle, often aggressive political skills earned him leading roles in government, in 1951 Jayewardene was a member of the committee to select a National Anthem for Sri Lanka headed by Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne. The following year he was elected as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Ceylon, as the youngest Finance Minister, in D. S. Senanayakes government, Jayewardene struggled to balance the budget, faced with mounting government expenditures, particularly for rice subsidies. His 1953 proposal to cut the subsidies - on which many people depended on for survival - provoked fierce opposition and the 1953 Hartal campaign. By the late 1950s, the UNP struggled to deal with the force of the Sinhala-nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Jayewardene pushed the party to accommodate nationalism and endorse the Sinhala Only Act, throughout the 1960s Jayewardene clashed over this issue with party leader Dudley Senanayake. Jayewardene saw how skilfully the SLFP had played the ethnic card and he was determined to place this industry on a solid foundation providing it a conceptional base and institutional support. The new Minister Hon. J. R and this was the beginning of a new industry ignored by the previous governments but given a new life by Minister J. R. Jayewardene. In the general election of 1970 the UNP suffered a major defeat, once again elected to parliament J. R. Jayewardene took over as opposition leader and de facto leader of the UNP due to the ill health of Dudley Senanayake

4.
Ranasinghe Premadasa
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Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 to 1 May 1993. Before that, he served as the Prime Minister in the government headed by J. R. Jayewardene from 6 February 1978 to 1 January 1989. He was awarded Sri Lankas most highest award to a civilian Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President Junius Richard Jayewardene and he was assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing by the LTTE. R. Premadasa was born on 23 June 1924 at Dias Place, Colombo 11, to the family of Richard Ranasinghe of Kosgoda and Jayasinghe Arachchige Ensina Hamine of Batuwita, R. Premadasa was the oldest of five children, three sisters, and one brother. While attending school, he attended the Hewavitharana Daham Pasala and he completed his education at St. Joseph’s College, during the Le Goc era. He satisfied all the requirements for registering at the University of London for higher studies, however, he gave up this opportunity to engage in higher studies and chose path of social service for the welfare of the poor and down- trodden. He was the organizer of the community development project of the area in 1939. These youth who enrolled in his development movement refrained from taking liquor, allying with late A. E. Goonesinghe, the founder leader of the Ceylon Labour Movement, he commenced his political life. He had several ups and downs in that era and he had been the Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council while functioning as a member of San Sebastian’s Ward. Joining hands with late Dudley Senanayake, he joined the UNP, the following year he joined the protest march to Kandy on October 3, which had been organized by the late J. R. Jayewardene. This march was disrupted at Imbulgoda by some thugs led by a politician of the area. He was elected the third Member of Parliament for Colombo Central in the Dudley Senanayake government at the election held in March 1960. Later he was elected Member for the Cinnamon Gardens Ward in the Colombo Municipal Council and it was at this time that he married Hema Wickramatunge, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wickramatunge Arachchige Charles Appuhamy of Bandarawela, on June 23,1964. The son, Sajith, and daughter, Dulanjali, were born to this couple, Premadasa initially supported the Labour Party, then headed by A. Ekanayake Gunasinha. He was elected Deputy Mayor of Colombo in 1955, part of his political program was shelter for the poor, after the United Nations declared a Year of Shelter. On the economic front, the garment industry project that he initiated became a forerunner in earning foreign exchange, later he was raised to the position of Minister of Local Government. In the following general election held in 1970, he was elected first MP for Colombo Central and sat in the Opposition with late J. R. Jayewardene, Premadasa was once again appointed Chief Opposition Whip. Further, he was elected chairman of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Inter- Parliamentary Association held in Australia, in the meantime, he held membership of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the constitution of 1972

5.
Sanath Jayasuriya
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Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. Considered as one of the greatest ODI players of all time, Jayasuriya is well known for his powerful striking, Jayasuriya was also the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1999 to 2003. He retired from Test cricket in December 2007 and from limited overs cricket in June 2011, on 28 January 2013, Sri Lanka Cricket appointed him as the chairman of cricket selection committee. Sri Lanka won the ICC World Twenty20 for the first time in 2014, Jayasuriya ran for public office at the 2010 Sri Lankan general elections and was elected to the parliament from his native Matara District. He topped the UPFA parliamentary election list for Matara district by obtaining 74,352 preferential votes, Jayasuriya did not contest for the 2015 Sri Lankan general election, though he won most votes from Matara district under UPFA in the 2010 Sri Lankan general election. Sanath Jayasuriya was born in the Southern Sri Lankan city of Matara, to the family of Dunstan and he has an elder brother, Chandana Jayasuriya. He was educated at St. Servatius College, Matara, where his talents were nourished by his school principal, G. L. Galappathy. He excelled in cricket while at St. Servatius College, Matara, Jayasuriya was picked as the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in the Outstation Segment in 1988. He also received the awards for the Best Batsman and Best All-rounder in the Outstation Segment at the Observer School Cricket Awards ceremony in the same year, shortly afterwards he was drafted into the national side for the tour to Australia in 1989–90. He made his One Day International debut against Australia at Melbourne on Boxing Day of 1989 and their new gameplan is now the standard opening batting strategy in limited overs cricket for the modern era. Jayasuriya is known for both cuts and pulls along with his shot, a lofted cut over point. He was one of the key players in Sri Lankas victory in the 1996 Cricket World Cup and his philosophy towards batting is summarized by an all-aggression approach and over the years he has dominated almost every one day bowling combination that he has faced at one stage or another. His devastating performances have ensured that Sri Lanka have won almost 80% of the matches that he scored over 50 runs in limited overs cricket. When asked in an interview who are the most challenging bowlers he had faced in the game, he named in the order Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh, Jayasuriya is a spin bowler known for quickly getting through his overs. Sanath Jayasuriya held the record for the highest Test score made by a Sri Lankan,340 against India in 1997 and this effort was part of a second-wicket partnership with Roshan Mahanama that set the then all-time record for any partnership in Test history, with 576 runs. Both records were surpassed in July 2006 when fellow Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene scored 374 as part of a 624-run partnership with Kumar Sangakkara against South Africa. On 20 September 2005, during the Second Test of the series against Bangladesh, Jayasuriya became the first Sri Lankan to play 100 Tests. Jayasuriya announced his intention to retire from Test cricket following the Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka in April 2006 and he reversed his decision soon after, however, joining the Sri Lankan cricket team in England in May 2006

6.
United National Party
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The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP, is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the ruling party in the government of Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP is considered to have right-leaning, pro-capitalist, and liberal conservative policies. 66% of the popular vote and it beat the United Peoples Freedom Alliance, a left-leaning coalition, which won 44. 38% of the vote. The Front held a majority in parliament with the support of some UPFA members, the UNP had previously been the governing party or in the governing coalition from 1947 to 1956, from 1965 to 1970, from 1977 to 1994 and 2001 to 2004. In total, the UNP governed Sri Lanka for 38 of 69 years of its independent history, the UNP also had control of the executive presidency from the presidencys formation in 1978 to 1994. The UNP is a party to the right of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The UNP is also member of the International Democrat Union, the UNP was founded on 6 September 1946 by amalgamating three right-leaning pro-dominion parties from the majority Sinhalese community and minority Tamil and Muslim communities. The UNP represented the community and the landed gentry. However, Senanayake also adopted populist policies that made the party accepted in the grassroots level. S Senanayake is considered as the father of the nation, after independnece he refused a Knighthood but maintained good relations with Britain and was a Privy Counsel. These measures were intended primarily to undermine the Left electorally, in 1952 Prime Minister Senanayake died in a riding accident, and his son Dudley became Prime Minister. This irked long standing UNP stalwart S. W. R. D, bandaranaike, a Buddhist nationalist leader known for his centre-left views. Bandaranaike quit the party to found the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as a force between the UNP and Marxist parties. In 1953 the UNP attempted to reduce the rice ration and there was a Hartal, there was growing disaffection with the UNP particularly because of its support of minority religious groups, most notably Catholics, to the consternation of the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese. Bandaranaike was able to take advantage and lead the SLFP to victory in the 1956 elections, soon afterwards he passed the controversial Sinhala Only Act, which led to communal clashes in 1958. For the latter, he was called “Yankee Dickey. ”After Dudley Senanayake’s death in 1973, J. R. Jayewardene became leader of the UNP, the party won an unprecedented five-sixths of the seats in parliament. J. R. Jayewardene got himself elected Executive President by Parliament and, in 1978, the UNP opened up the economy and revolutionized the entire outlook of the country. Free-trade zones such as in Katunayaka and Biyagama were established in order to generate employment which resulted in leading international companies investing in Sri Lanka, the government undertook massive development work to promote hydroelectricity and agriculture. Reservoirs were built at Victoria, Randenigala, Rantambe and Kotmale while Maduru Oya and he created the University of Ruhuna and the Eastern University as well as the Medical faculty of the Jaffna university Bandaranayake International Airport was modernized and Air Lanka was created

7.
Southern Province, Sri Lanka
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The Southern Province of Sri Lanka is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. It is the 7th largest province by area and is home to 2.5 million people, the 3rd most populated province. The province is bordered by Sabaragamuwa Province and Uva Province to the North, Eastern Province to the Northeast, Western Province to the Northwest, the Southern Province is a small geographic area consisting of the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota. Subsistence farming and fishing is the source of income for the vast majority of the people of this region. Government School education is handled by the Southern Provincial Education Department. Southern Province is divided into 3 districts and 47 divisional secretariats, the districts of the Sri Lanka are divided into administrative sub-units known as divisional secretariats. These were originally based on the counties, the korales. They were formerly known as D. R. O, Divisions after the Divisional Revenue Officer. Later the D. R. O. s became Assistant Government Agents, currently, the Divisions are administered by a Divisional Secretary, and are known as a D. S. Divisions. There are 47 divisional secretariats in the Southern Province, with 19 in Galle District,12 in Hambantota District and 16 in Matara District, important landmarks of the Southern Province include the wildlife sanctuaries of the Yala and Udawalawe National Parks. Ussangoda in Ambalantota is a view of the beach and the sea, and the holy city of Kataragama. During the Portuguese period there were two famous Sinhalese poets called Andare who was from Dickwella and Gajaman Nona who was from Denipitiya in Matara District, the Southern Province was seriously affected by the tsunami in 2004. The province is going through a rebuilding process

8.
Communist Party of Sri Lanka
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The Communist Party of Sri Lanka is a communist party in Sri Lanka. At the legislative elections of 2004, the party was part of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance that won 45. 6% of the vote and 105 out of 225 seats. The CPSL was founded as the Communist Party of Ceylon in 1943, the USP had been formed out of the pro-Soviet Union wing of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. The USP was proscribed by the colonial authorities, the USP and then the CPC were initially led by Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe. In 1952 Wickremesinghes wife, the English-born Doreen Young Wickremasinghe, a leader of the Suriya-Mal Movement, was elected to the Sri Lankan parliament. In 1963 the Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna formed the United Left Front, the ULF broke down in 1964 when the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike offered ministerial posts to LSSP and the CP. In the mid 1960s the U. S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 1900, in 1968, the CP joined the LSSP and the SLFP in the United Front. In the 1970 government, Pieter Keuneman became Minister of Housing and Construction, however, one faction of the party, led by S. A. Wickremasinghe and Indika Gunawardena, maintained a line of critical support for the government. After the general election of 1977, for the first time in half a century, however, after a subsequent election petition, Sarath Muttetuwegama was elected to the Kalawana seat in a by-election. Later CPSL joined the Peoples Alliance, the front led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, when SLFP shelved the PA and formed the United Peoples Freedom Alliance together with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ahead of the 2004 elections, CPSL and LSSP initially stayed out. They did however, sign a memorandum with the UPFA at a later stage, CPSL does not, however, consider itself a member of UPFA. The CPSL had one member of parliament in 2004, party general secretary D. E. W, gunasekara expected to become the speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament, but lost by a handful of votes. Gunasekara was then sworn in as the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, the youth wing of CPSL is the Communist Youth Federation. CYF is an organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. For many years the CPSL published the Aththa Sinhala newspaper, which part of the popular cultural discourse. Its English organ was the Forward weekly

9.
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
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The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was founded in 1935 and emerged as a political force in the Sri Lankan independence movement during the 1940s. It joined a government in 1964, and was then expelled from the Fourth International. It peaked in strength in the 1970s, but has declined gradually during the last 30 years. In the parliamentary election held on 2 April 2004, the party was part of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance, one of those 105 seats belongs to LSSP. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party was the first modern party in Sri Lanka and the first party to have an indigenous name rather than an English one. The Sinhala term samasamajaya was one coined by Dally Jayawardena in the Swadesa Mitraya to translate the term socialist, however, the usage of samasamajaya has since been superseded by samajavadaya in everything but in the names of the LSSP and various of its splinter groups. The Tamil term samadharmam was used to translate socialist, but nowadays the English term is used, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was founded on 18 December 1935 with the broad aims of Independence and Socialism, by a group of young people who had gathered together for that purpose. The group at the commencement numbered a bare half-dozen composed principally of students who had returned from abroad, influenced deeply by the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin. The original group consisted of N. M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie Goonewardene, Philip Gunawardena, the LSSP grew out of the Youth Leagues, in which a nucleus of Marxists had developed. The leaders were mainly educated returnees from London, youth who had come into contact with the ideas of the European Left and were influenced by Harold Laski. Dr S. A. Wickremasinghe, an early returnee and a member of the State Council from 1931, was part of this group, the group, through the South Colombo Youth League, became involved in a strike at the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills. It published a journal in Sinhala, Kamkaruwa. In 1933 the group got involved in the Suriya-Mal movement, which had formed to provide support for indigenous ex-servicemen by the sale of Suriya flowers. The Suriya-Mal movement surged as a reaction to the fact that at the time Poppy Day funds went solely to British ex-servicemen, the movement was honed by volunteer work among the poor during the Malaria Epidemic of 1934-1935. The volunteers found that there was widespread malnutrition, which helped fight by making pills of Marmite yeast extract. In 1936 the LSSP contested the State Council elections in four constituencies, the two new members, Philip Gunawardena and N. M. Perera, proved to be a thorn in the side of the British Colonial government. The LSSP began fraternal relations with the Congress Socialist Party of India, Mrs Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya of the CSP was invited by the LSSP for a highly successful political tour of the island

10.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
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Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan stateswoman and politician and the modern worlds first female head of government. She served as Prime Minister of Ceylon and Sri Lanka three times, 1960–65, 1970–77 and 1994–2000, and was a leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Born to Barnes Ratwatte, Dissawa of Sabaragamuwa and Rosalind Mahawelatenne Kumarihamy of Mahawelatenne Walauwa, Balangoda, she was the eldest of six, with four brothers and her father was member of the State Council and the Senate of Ceylon. Her youngest sister Patsy Ratwatte was married to Colonel Edward James Divitotawela, Bandaranaike was educated at St Bridgets Convent, Colombo, but was a practising Buddhist. In 1940 she married Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, a member of the State council and son of Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike and they had three children, Sunethra, Chandrika, and Anura. Her husband Solomon was a member of the United National Party in 1946 and was elected to the House of Representatives in the first elections of the Dominion of Ceylon in 1947. Breaking away from the UNP he went on to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, a coalition led by the SLFP won a majority in the House of Representatives in 1956 general election and Solomon became Prime Minister. After initiating much change on socialist and nationalistic lines, he had his tenure cut short three years later when he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk on 26 September 1959. The assassination created a vacuum, due to Solomons likely successor C. P. de Silva being gravely ill. Wijeyananda Dahanayake, Minister of Education, was appointed caretaker Prime Minister, turmoil in the government followed as Dahanayake sacked and appointed ministers. This led to a defeat of the SLFP in the March 1960 elections, during this time Sirimavo was brought forward as legitimate successor to her husbands party leadership and she entered politics. In 1960 M. P. de Zoysa Jnr stepped down from his seat in the Senate paving the way for Sirimavo to be appointed as a member of the Senate from the SLFP. She led her party to win the July 1960 elections on the pledge to continue her husbands policies, notably the Sinhala Only Act, on 21 July 1960, as a Senator she became prime minister, thus becoming the first female prime minister in the world. Known to her fellow Sri Lankans as Mrs. B, she could skillfully use appeals to the electorates as she promised to continue her husbands work. Bandaranaike was on a ride from the moment she took office. Within a year of her 1960 election victory she declared a state of emergency and this they considered a highly discriminatory act and an attempt to deny Tamils access to all official posts and the law. This led to an increase in Tamil militancy which escalated under succeeding administrations, further problems arose with the state takeover of foreign businesses, particularly petroleum companies, which upset the United States and Britain, they ended aid to Sri Lanka. As a result, Bandaranaike moved her country closer to China, at home, she crushed an attempted military coup by Christian officers in 1962 and appointed her uncle William Gopallawa Governor-General of Ceylon